


devil's backbone

by damnmysterytome



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Drabble Collection, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-03
Updated: 2016-06-27
Packaged: 2018-07-12 02:20:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 31
Words: 20,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7080838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/damnmysterytome/pseuds/damnmysterytome
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>a series of prompted drabbles surrounding frank & karen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. in the snow + broken wings

**Author's Note:**

> in the snow + broken wings tumblr prompt from user sunneinsplendor. i take prompts over at my tumblr (kastle.co.vu)
> 
> warnings: mentions of kidnapping & blood.

Karen spits blood out onto the dirt floor under her, her eyes lulling shut for a moment. The second her eyes shut, a voice causes them to open. “Hey, look at me.” She lifts her head up and looks up at Frank, ten feet away from her.

They’re both tied to pillars in a basement but where they don’t know. Karen doesn’t remember much about how she got there, all she remembers is leaving Foggy’s apartment and reaching into her purse for her car keys before she was hit over the head and thrown into a van. Thats all she remembers.

“I’m so tired. Just a few minutes, Frank, please,’ Karen whispers, her eyes going to shut again. She can hear Frank pull on the zip ties that tie him to the pillar, grunting and cursing.

“Keep your eyes open, come on, Page, you know better. You’ve probably got a concussion, you gotta stay awake.”

“You could just wake me up in a few - “

“No! Come on, eyes open. Keep them on me.”

Karen forces her head up and leans her head against the pillow, her eyes finding his. Frank looks just as bad as she imagines she does. His face is covered in blood, his own, bruises, and cuts. “You look like shit,”

“No ones putting you in a magazine anytime soon, ma'am.” Frank chuckles and coughs, turning his head to spit out blood into the dirt. “Tell me somethin’.” He says once he turns to look back at her.

“What?”

“Jus’ anythin’.” He’s just trying to keep her awake and keep her alive. “Somethin’ from your childhood.”

“Once during the winter… My brother and I, we, uh, we found th-this bird in the snow, it’s wings were broken, and… It was frozen, it was dead. But Kevin, he.. he didn’t believe me.” She smiles, her mouth red from blood. “So he brought it in the house and kept it in his room and was just… He was just so convinced that if the bird could get warm, it’d wake up.”

Frank’s lips turn up in a bit of a smile, but the look on his face is distant. Karen can tell, something she said reminds him of his family, of one of his kids. If she had to guess, it would be Frank Jr.. “Did it?”

“No, no, it was dead. Super dead. Our Dad was pissed when he found it in the sink in the kitchen.” She laughs until she’s coughing and having trouble breathing.

When she’s done coughing, Frank speaks. “You’re,” He stops and changes his tune, probably too tired for the argument that Karen’s going to give. “- We’re gonna get out of here, alright? You and me, we’re gonna get out of here.”

Karen’s not so sure if she believes that, but she holds onto the memory of the bird with broken wings in the snow.


	2. can you hear me?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can you hear me? prompt from anonymous. i take prompts over at my tumblr (kastle.co.vu)
> 
> warnings: character death & explosions.

Her ears are ringing from the blast, her head aching. When her eyes open, they scream to shut again but she forces them to stay open, scanning her surroundings.

“Matt,” She gasps as she starts to push herself up from the pavement, towards the car that just moments before that Matt had climbed in. Backseat, left side door.

Karen stumbles to the side and plants against a building, letting out a scream when she sees the car that Matt had climbed into just minutes before. “Matt!” She screams and Karen tries to move towards the car that’s on fire, but she’s stopped by two arms wrapping around her waist.

“Come on, we gotta go,” The voice belongs to Frank, but Karen can barely make it out.

She struggles against Frank, but she’s weaker than he is already and the effects of the blast make it worse.

“Matt!” Karen shouts again, Frank’s arms tightening around her. His lips press against her ear and his voice is low, firm but soft.

“There is nothing we can do for him, come on.” When Karen refuses to move, Frank turns her to face him, leans down to lift her up and throws her over his shoulder.

She struggles still, smacking her hands against his back. “Put me down!”

He refuses, instead finding a nearby pharmacy, pushing open the door and letting it slam behind him. “Out.” Frank bellows. The few amount of people who are in there recognize him and they duck out. When it’s empty, Frank locks it from behind him.

“You can’t just kick everyone out of my pharmacy!” Karen hears Frank dig around in his pocket for a moment and hears what sounds like money.

“For your time and supplies.” He moves around the pharmacy for a little bit longer, grabbing items off the shelves. Frank drops the items off on the top of the counter before setting Karen on top of it.

By now, Karen isn’t struggling with Frank, she’s resigned to what’s happened.

“You okay?” Frank asks, leaning down in front of Karen. He lifts a hand to her face and runs a peroxide soaked cotton swap over a cut on her face. She hisses and pulls from him, but doesn’t say anything and doesn’t object as Frank holds her face in place. “Can you hear me?”

She nods slowly, but she still doesn’t say anything. “Not talking to me?”

Karen’s gaze averts from him and focuses on a space on the wall. “We just left him there.”

Frank turns her head towards his and nods, looking her in the eyes as much as she tries to look away from him. “I’m sorry about Murdock. There wasn’t anything we could do for Matt. You would have gotten yourself hurt or killed trying.”

Karen looks away from Frank and tears fill her eyes. He ignores them, continuing to clean off her face and check her out as much as he could. He isn’t a doctor, but he knows the symptoms of a concussion or something worse. He’ll drop her off at the hospital later.

“Be mad at me all you want.” Frank says, snipping off thread from stitches Karen didn’t know he was stitching.  She turns to look at him and sets her eyes in a glare, despite how much it kills her head. “I’d rather have you angry at me and alive than happy with me and dead.”


	3. grinding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> grinding prompt from user lawofavgs. i take prompts at my tumblr (kastle.co.vu)
> 
> warnings: smut

Karen struggles for a moment when her eyes first open and she's in a strange place with a set of arms around her. It takes the arms tightening for her to remember where she is – Frank's safe house. She's there because a pipe burst in her apartment.

She settles back against Frank and her eyes close, resting her head on top of what of the pillow she can get. He only has one pillow, only been one person in the bed for a while. How they slept, she has no idea. There's not a lot of room, every movement jostles the bed.

Frank's arms tighten around her when she moves again and he presses against her with a grumble. Her eyes snap open when she feels Frank's erection against her rear, a soft gasp escaping her lips. She stills for a few moments before a grin forms over her lips.

Teasingly, slowly, maybe even a little bit cruelly, Karen pushes back against him. Once, twice, three times, until Frank is pushing back against her. His arm pulls her back against his chest and he attaches his lips onto her ear. “Teasing isn't very nice, ma'am.”

She turns her head around and brings her hand up to his face, running her fingers over the slight stubble. Karen knows Frank will shave it off later in the day, despite her playful groans and protests. Despite both of their morning breaths, she leans over and presses her mouth against his. “We've got time before I have to leave.”

“Do you know what time it is?” He murmurs as she pulls away. Karen's lips protrude for a moment and she shrugs. “You could be late.” Frank reminds, ducking his head into her neck. He presses his lips against her neck a few times.

Karen pushes back against Frank as she leans back to look at the time. Her lips turn up in a smile as she speaks. “We have time.'

The three words are all Frank needs and he moves his hands down Karen's side, pushing up the t-shirt of his she wore to bed up to her stomach. He drops the t-shirt and moves down to her underwear, pushing the thin fabric down to her thighs. Karen twists and adjusts until she can get her underwear off completely, tossing them somewhere in the room.

Frank's boxers are gone before Karen's back on the bed, his arms back around her waist. His lips press against her shoulder as he adjusts her legs for access before grasping his cock and lining himself up with her entrance.

Karen pushes back against him and Frank lets out a slight groan before pushing into her. Frank's arms come back around her waist and tugs her back against him when he's buried inside of her completely, breathing in her scent. “Frank,' She murmurs, her eyes lulling shut.

His thrusts are slow, pulling out of her completely before he thrusts back into her. One of her hand comes up and around the back of his head, lacing her fingers through the short strands. She pushes back against him each time he pulls out of her, the action causing Frank to groan and his thrusts to pick up in pace.

Frank's hand moves between her legs and a finger finds her clit, massaging and drawing circles over her clit. Being buried inside of Karen is a drug to Frank, almost more of a drug to him than coffee – or killing. He finds peace inside of her, a calm that he only knows on the end of a rifle.

They stay like that, back to chest, long after they both orgasm. Karen's hand stays laced through his hair, his head buried in her neck.

“You're gonna be late.” Frank murmurs against her neck.

Karen knows, she's got a meeting in an hour and it's going to take her a good thirty minutes to get into town. “Yeah, yeah, give me five more minutes.”

 


	4. grinding, sunlight, all i ask

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> grinding, sunlight, all I ask prompted from anonymous on tumblr. i take prompts there (kastle.co.vu)
> 
> warnings: blood, stitches, injured!karen, alcohol

Karen grinds her teeth as she sits out on her fire escape, a thread and needle in her hands. A bottle of whiskey sits at her feet, a pile of bloody tissues next to the bottle. Her side had been sliced open from someone who didn't like that Karen was asking too many questions.

Going to the hospital would earn her even more attention and she wasn't on good enough terms with Matt to call Claire. So Karen Page was stuck on her fire escape, attempting to do it herself. It wasn't working out very well.

Every time she brings the needle to her skin to start, she chickens out and sets the needle aside. The bleeding has mostly stopped, but Karen knows that she needed to get this sewed up. Karen didn't want to, but she knew that her only option at this point was to swallow her pride, pick up her cell phone, and call Frank.

She digs around her purse until she finds the burner flip phone Frank had gotten her, turned it on, and held down on the number 2 until it shows that it's dialing. She lifts the phone up to her ears and just prays that Frank has it on.

It rings twice before his voice comes through. “You okay?”

“I need you.” Her voice is slurring slightly from the large amount of whiskey she had chugged before starting to clean up her wound. “Your help. I need your help. I mean, I need you too but I need your help so I still need you too-”

“Are you drunk?” There's a hint of humor in his voice and Karen briefly thinks that she would really like to smack Frank across the face right now.

“I needed some liquid courage.” Karen leans against the fire escape and sighs into the phone. “Can you just come help me? That's all I'm asking.”

“You at home?”

“Mmhmm.”

“I'll be there in five minutes.” The line goes dead before Karen can ask where he is if it's only going to take him five minutes and she rests her head against the railing, shutting her eyes. Just a few minutes.

Karen's jolted awake when she hears the footsteps on the fire escape below her and she digs in her purse for her .380.

“It's just me.” Frank's voice calms Karen and she sighs, setting the purse down on the stairs.

“Don't freak when you see me.” Karen says as she listens to him walking on the steps that connect her floor to the floor below.

“Not promising anything.” He calls up to her.

Frank finishes coming up the fire escape to her window and curses when he sees her, shirt torn open to reveal the gash. Bottle of whiskey at her feet with bloody tissues by it. “Fuck happened?”

“Someone doesn't like me asking questions.” Karen says as he kneels down in front of her. Frank shakes his head and mumbles angrily as he picks up the whiskey bottle. He takes a swig from it before sits on his knees and brings his hand to her side.

“Clean it?”

“Yeah.. Almost stitched it too, but I guess the liquid courage wasn't enough. Came out here hoping the sunlight would help.” The sun had only been out for a few hours, but since it was in the middle of summer it was already bright and shining, pounding down on Frank and Karen.

Frank's lips turn up in a it of a smile and he picks up the need and thread that she had discarded, scooting closer to her. His hands work in a fury, a flash of long, nimble fingers working on her. He finishes quickly, tying off the string and breaking it with his fingers. It's not the work of a doctor, but it'll do.

“Try not to tear this open, huh?” He asks as he bundles up the tissues and closes the whiskey. He stands to his feet and helps Karen to her feet. Frank's arm with the whiskey tightens around her waist, holding her against his side.

Karen's lips turn in a sleepy, drunk smile. “Yes, Dr. Castle.”

 


	5. in the storm & waiting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kastle + in the storm & waiting prompt from anonymous. 
> 
> warnings: none

“Your car is uncomfortable.” Frank says, attempting to adjust the seat’s position. He’s been trying, for the last ten minutes or so, to move the drivers seat back so his legs would have more room. He’s failed and the seat hasn’t moved.

Slowly, Karen turns and looks at him, raising an eyebrow. “Someone ran a truck into my last one, this piece of shit is all I could afford.” Karen’s lips turn up in a bit of a smile as Frank gives into the fact that the position of the seat will not move. He doesn’t know how Karen sits in it and drives, they’re the same damn height. “Sorry.”

Frank turns to look at her for a moment, a deep frown on his face. “You could at least have tried to get the seat fixed. If I can’t drive comfortably in this thing, I know you sure as hell can’t.” He says before turning back to look out the window.

“How much do you think I make, Frank?” Karen asks, letting out a soft laugh. “You probably make more than I do. Hey, how do you have money?”

“Shh.” Frank says, lifting his hand up to silence her. His eyes are on someone leaving the bar they’re watching, but his hand drops and he curses under his breath when he realizes that it’s not who he’s – they’re – waiting for.

They’ve been waiting for hours, sitting in Karen’s car with the radio turned down low. It’s on an old station, mostly seventies music. Karen lets him have control over the radio when they’re in a car together, he can’t stand most of the music that plays lately. Although he does enjoy breaking into Karen’s car to turn up the radio station to something loud and obnoxious so when she turns on her car in the morning, it blasts pop music loudly at her.

She sighs and turns around so she’s rummaging around in the backseat until she finds what she’s looking for, turning back around with a bag of chips in her hands. Karen tugs open the bag and reaches in, grabbing a few and popping them into her mouth.

Frank stares at her until Karen offers a chip for him and he shakes his head. “Chips, seriously?”

“I’m hungry, we’ve been waiting here for like two hours? Three? And you won’t let me leave even though there’s a pizza place right over there and I could get us a nice pizza and-”

“I don’t eat pizza.”

‘Of course you don’t.” Karen sighs and turns back to her chips. Another handful of chips pass and Frank snatches the bag from her. She protests at first, thinking that Frank’s about to throw them out but he just takes a handful of them and hands over the bag, leaning back in the seat.

They sit in silence for a while before the first roar of thunder hits and Karen jumps, chips flying out of her hand and around the seat. Frank doesn’t say anything, he doesn’t want to embarrass her about her fear of storms. “Take you home if you want.”

Karen shakes her head and reaches her hand down to pick up the bag of chips between them again. Frank reaches his hand over and wraps his hand around her wrist. His thumb runs along her arm softly and slowly, turning his head to watch the for the man they’ve been waiting for.


	6. chocolate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kastle + chocolate prompted by anonymous on tumblr (kastle.co.vu)
> 
> warnings: pregnant!karen, kastle friendship, foggy/karen relationship

“Ma'am.”

Karen Page freezes when she hears a voice that she never thought she'd hear again, closing the file she's been going over and slowly turning around to come face to face with The Punisher.

“Hi, Frank,” Karen says, clutching the bag of chocolate covered potato chips in her hands. “What are you doing here?” She asks, figuring that there isn't any point in small talk. She's never one for small talk anyway.

Frank nods and takes a few steps over to her, his eyes going to the bag of chocolate covered potato chips that are resting in front of her. He furrows his brow and licks his lips. “Those chocolate covered potato chips?”

Karen looks down at them and back up at Frank, nodding. “Yeah... You want some?” He nods and reaches his hand into the bag and pulls a few out, cradling them in his hand. Color her surprised, she wouldn't have thought Frank for chocolate covered potato chips. “Do you need something, Frank?”

“I need you to stop asking questions about the Russian gang you've been poking your nose into.” It's Karen's turn to furrow her brow and she opens her mouth to retort before Frank goes on. “Tracking 'em tonight and they start talking about a pretty blonde journalist poking her nose in their business.”

She crossed her arms and looks up at Frank with her lips pursed as Frank pops a chip in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully before he swallows and continues. “And about who to hire to take care of the problem. Few names passed around, one of them a better shot than I am.” Frank looks directly in Karen's eyes before he speaks again.

“Stop poking your nose into them.”

Karen opens her mouth to tell Frank she can handle herself, to _fuck off_ with his advice, but she remembers the growing life inside of her, the potato chip bag covering the small bump. “Okay,” She says.

Frank almost looks surprised that Karen agrees to back off so quickly, popping a few more of the potato chips in his mouth. He chews, swallows, and repeats with the last two chips in his hand before he speaks. “You took my advice.”

“I just said I would.”

“Not that advice. About Murdock. Two hands.. Four, it seems.”

Karen lets her mouth fall open in surprise, a hand running over the small bump. When Frank takes another step towards her and holds out his hand, she nods and allows Frank to run his fingers over the bump. He smiles and although there's no way he can feel the baby in there moving around, lets his hand rest there.

“Run into Murdock a few times, almost hurt he didn't tell me.”

'He doesn't know...” Karen says.

“So I should definitely not congratulate him the next time I see him?”

Karen lets out a breathy laugh and shakes her head. “No, but if you see Foggy, you should.” Frank's brow furrows and he raises an eyebrow. “Nelson.”

“Shit.. The good lawyer.” She laughs again and nods, watching as Frank pulls his hand away. “How far along are you?”

“14 weeks.” She says, smiling up at him.

Frank nods slowly and brings his hand to his face, scratching at his stubble. “You and your little girl have a good night, alright? Away from Russians.” He says and turns to walk away, back towards the fire escape.

“Wait, how do you know I'm having a girl? We haven't found out yet.”

Frank shrugs and looks back at her, his lips turning up in a sad smile. “Predicted both my kids, never been wrong since.” He leans against the window sill and watches Karen for a moment. “Thanks for the chips, ma'am.”

“Wait!” Karen says and closes the distance between them, holding the bag out. “Take them, you probably haven't eaten in a while and at least it's something.'

“Nah, you and your girl need that.”

Karen smiles and jabs her thumb towards her desk, where a box of bags of chocolate covered potato chips sit. “Foggy keeps me well stacked, don't worry.”

He laughs and nods, taking the bag from Karen. He looks down at the bag, then at her bump, then back at her face. “Have a good night, ma'am.”

“You too, Frank.”

 


	7. pool & eternal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pool & eternal - prompt from tumblr user missherowndreams.
> 
> warnings: none

The sounds of knocking – banging - at her front door wake Karen up before the sun has even risen and she sits up straight in bed, her hand immediately on her bedside drawer. Before she can really wake up, Karen's out of bed and she's got her gun in her hands. She shuts the door to the room her children share, before she's down the steps and towards the front door.

She peaks out through the window of the door, her eyes widening in shock when she sees who's standing in front of her door. “Shit,” She murmurs and drops one hand from the gun. Her fingers clench around it as she unlocks the door and pulls it open. “Frank,”

He looks different, but Karen knows it's him. His beard is full and his hair is longer than it used to be, but she knows by his eyes. For once, they're not swollen and she can stare directly into them.

“Ma'am,” Frank says, looking down to the gun in her hand. “Gonna use that thing or put it away?”

“Depends on what you're doing here?” She asks. Frank doesn't have an answer for her, a simple shrug of his shoulders. “Go around the back,” Karen sighs.

A trip upstairs to place the gun back in her bedside drawer and to check on her kids again later, Karen's sitting on the edge of her pool, her legs dangling in the water. Frank's next to her, beer in his hand, with his shoes and socks off, jeans rolled up and his legs in the water.

“How'd you find us?”

“I punched a few guys.” Karen lets out a laugh and shakes her head, looking down at their feet in the water. “Were you hiding from me?”

“Of course I wasn't, Frank,” She turns to look at him, pursing her lips. “I wouldn't hide from you.. Or hide _them_ from you.”

Them is her children. Their children. Twins born five years ago in the same hospital they first crossed paths in. Frank hadn't bailed on her, not completely. He sent money to a P.O box every month that Karen doesn't question where it came from. He sends cards and a gift on their birthday, but he still keeps his distance. It's better that way. At least that's what told they tell themselves.

“How are they?”

“Good. They finished kindergarten a few months ago. Ben hates school, Beth loves it.” She says softly, her eyes flicking to the upstairs bedroom where the kids are. Lights still off, the house is small enough that if they call for her she can hear them even if she's outside. “Ben looks just like you,”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, and he's just as much trouble.”

Frank laughs, looking down at his beer for a second. “Beth?”

“An angel. She remembers to feed the fish when I don't.” Karen smiles and brings her hand up to his hair, running her hands through the curls that have formed. She's never seen his hair this long. “I had wondered where she got her curls from.”

Frank squeezes his eyes shut and sighs, clearing his throat. If it wasn't for the only light being the moon, Karen would have sworn he had tears in his eyes, a tightness in his throat.

“You and Murdock?”

“I tried, to make it work.” Karen says, shaking her head. “But I couldn't get past all the lies.. I couldn't get past the fact that I don't love him. I couldn't.”

It's silent between the two of them for a few minutes before Karen leans her head onto Frank's shoulder and Frank's forehead turns to press against hers. “Eternally, right?”

“Eternally.” Karen murmurs.

 

 


	8. “I came here to explain what happened, and I’m not leaving until you listen.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “I came here to explain what happened, and I’m not leaving until you listen.” prompt from tumblr user clararosetyler
> 
> warnings: pedophilia mention

Karen's window is never shut the way it is tonight, shot and locked with a thin piece of wood pressed against it to prevent anyone – Frank – from getting in. He stares into the window, easily able to see Karen. She's lying on the bed, turned away from the window. Frank moves from the fire escape, climbing down each floor until he's back on the ground.

He's going to have to do this the hard way apparently.

Frank heads into the apartment building through the front door and up to Karen's floor through the stairwell. He stands outside of her door and knocks on it, three times. She doesn't come to the door. He knocks another three times, resting his forehead against the door.

“I know you're in there.” Her apartment is small enough he barely raises his voice and he knows that she'll hear him. “Come on, open up.”

He knocks again, this time louder. “Karen, open the damn door!” This time he does raise his voice but all it does is gain the attention of her neighbor. “Go back inside.” He growls to the old lady. She shuts the door and he hears it lock.

Frank reaches back into his pocket for his wallet and pulls a small lock picking kit, leaning down so he can work. It doesn't take him long to hear the lock give way, standing to his feet and pocketing the kit. It was a good thing he brought it with him.

He pushes open the door and takes a few steps into the apartment, shutting it behind him. “I know you heard me out there.”

Karen lifts her head up and stares at Frank, even in the darkness of the apartment he can sense the glare she's giving him. “I was hoping you'd take the _goddamn_ hint and leave me alone.” She starts to sit up slowly and presses both hands onto the mattress below her. “Get out, Frank.”

“No.”

“Frank, _go._ ”

“I came here to explain what happened, and I’m not leaving until you listen.”

“I know what happened, Frank, you _killed_ him. You killed my boyfriend for no goddamn reason.”

A few nights ago, Frank had killed Karen's boyfriend. He'd waited for him to come home, maybe from a date with Karen, then killed the man with his bare hands. If Frank had been thinking clearly, he would have gone to Karen before he killed him, but he hadn't.

“I killed him because I saw photos of him at a strip club.”

Karen scoffs and cuts Frank off. “A strip club? That's what you killed him for? So what, he went to a stupid strip club.”

“He went to a strip club that has little girls working there.”

“W-What? N-No, no, no! He wouldn't have done that, you are _wrong_.”

“I saw him there myself, then I saw him go to dinner with _you_. You think I would have done that without being one hundred percent sure?” Frank asks, reaching around the back to his pocket and pulling out a photo he unfolds it and folds it back up so the picture is facing and he shoves the photo in her face.

She can't deny that's him, sitting in the club while a girl who can't be be more than fourteen dances on a pole. “Is this not him? Hmm? Did I get it wrong?”

Karen turns her head away from Frank, who reaches out and grasps her chin and turns it back to the photo. He's being _cruel_ and he knows it, but he needs her to understand. “Look at it, Karen.”

“Stop!” Karen shouts and brings both hands up to shove him away. Frank lets her, taking two steps back as she dissolves into tears. “Oh, God.” She starts repeating as a mantra, rocking back and forth. He gives her a moment before kneeling down in front of her.

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry.” He says, letting Karen lift her hand up and smack at his chest and face. “I'm sorry.” Frank says as he grabs both of her hands and holds them against each other in place. He sits up on his knees and wraps both arms around Karen as her sobs pick up again, her head burying into Frank's shoulder.

 


	9. "Who gave you that black eye?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Who gave you that black eye" prompt from tumblr user captaincastle.
> 
> warnings: none
> 
> follows the fic "truth ; answers".

“Dad!” Beth exclaimed, climbing off the stool in the kitchen and running towards the door when the door had shut behind her father.

Frank grunted as she threw her arms around him, one arm coming around her waist. “Hey, baby girl.” He mumbled. It was early into the morning, probably close to four AM than. Beth should definitely be asleep. “You should be in bed.”

Beth pulled away from her father and looked up at him, shaking her head. “Not a chance, Dad.” Ever since she had found out about what her father had done, she couldn’t sleep much when he was out. Maybe a few hours, but never more than six.

“I’m gonna get cleaned up, alright?” Frank was more willing to come home and actually walk into the house instead of going to his shed to clean up, now that Beth knew and he didn’t have to worry about explaining it away. He still didn’t like exposing Beth to what he did.

Frank moved from the kitchen and into the bathroom that connected to his bedroom with Karen. He removed his armor and his clothes, turning the water to the shower on. He let it warm up before he climbed into the shower, letting the blood and grime rinse off of him.

After his shower, Frank wrapped a towel around his waist and went into the bedroom he shared with Karen. He stopped by the bed on his way to the dresser, leaning down to press his lips against her forehead. She stirred a bit as he moved to his dresser, finding a pair of sweatpants. Frank dropped his towel and pulled on the sweatpants, returning to the bathroom to hang up his towel and take care of his clothes and the armor. He set the armor in the bathtub for now, he’d take care of it later.

Frank shut the door that connected the bathroom to the bedroom and opened up the door that led into the hallway, leaning his head out. “Hey, Beth, come here!” He called out, loud enough for Beth to hear him but not to wake up his longtime girlfriend.

A few minutes later, his daughter came down the hallway, holding two mugs of coffee in her hands. “Yeah?”

Frank’s lips turned up at the sight of coffee, grasping the mug from her hands in his left hand and lifting it to his lips. “Wanna give me a hand with somethin’?” He asked, setting the mug on the counter. Frank lifted up his right hand, showing her how it didn’t bend correctly at the moment. “Need some help shaving, trust you not to cut my throat open?”

Beth let out a soft laugh and shrugged. “Depends on what you plan on getting me for my birthday.” Beth joked, moving around Frank to open the medicine cabinet. She pulled out Frank’s shaving cream and his razor while Frank moved to sit on the edge of the tub. She turned back to her father and squirted some of the shaving cream into her hand to rub it on his face.

“Who gave you the black eye?” She asked, glancing at the black eye her father had. It was still swollen, fresh.

“Your Uncle Matt.” He mumbled as Beth started to shave his neck. She frowned and turned back to the sink, rinsing off the razor before she turned back to him.

“Why?”

“He doesn’t like the way I do things.” He explained before she started back on his neck. “Don’t tell your Mom I told you, but uh, he’s Daredevil.”

Beth gasped softly and pulled the razor back from his neck before she could accidentally cut him. “Seriously? Next you’re gonna tell me Uncle Foggy is secretly Thor.”

Frank laughed and snorted, allowing Beth to return back to his neck. “Nah, just a good lawyer.” He said. “You and your mom have a good time?”

“Yeah, she taught me how to make that peach cake you like.” Beth said.

“Some of that in the fridge?” Frank asked. He hadn’t eaten much while he was out, so a nice big slice of peach upside down cake sounded perfect to him.

“Of course, we didn’t eat a whole cake in two days.” Beth laughed, wiping off the access shaving cream from his neck. She moved onto his face, biting on her bottom lip. “I asked Mom how she can sleep when you’re gone.”

“Yeah?”

“I can’t, at least not much.. I just.. I can’t stop thinking about what if something happens to you, Dad?”

“Hey, ain’t nothin’ gonna happen to me, baby girl.” Frank promised, looking up at her. “Been doin’ this since before you were born, ain’t nothin’ happen to me, yet, alright?”

Beth chewed on her lip and nodded, finishing up her shave job. She’d only nicked him once on the cheek but it didn’t seem to bother him much.

“Come on, lets get some of the cake, huh?” Frank asked as he stood to his feet, wrapping an arm around his daughter.


	10. "here, let me see."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "here, let me see" prompt from anonymous on tumblr.
> 
> warnings/tags: domestic!kastle, evil little splinters

A shrill scream from the backyard alerts Frank and Karen, causing Frank to bolt from the kitchen where he's been preparing dinner and Karen to bolt from her spot in front of the garden. Five year old Beth is sitting in the sandbox her father had built earlier in the summer. The backyard is large and by the time it takes Karen to get across it, Frank's outside and Beth is in the air, on his side.

Beth's hand is against her chest as she cries, Frank pressing kisses against her forehead, shushing her softly in hopes of calming her down. “Here, let me see, Bethie.” Karen cooes, reaching her hand forward to pull the hand against Beth's chest towards her.

Buried deep in Beth's finger is a splinter from the wood Frank used to build the sandbox. “Oh, sweetheart, it's just a splinter.” Karen says, turning finger to see it better in the sunlight. Beth lets out another shrill scream, her sobs shaking her tiny frame. “You gotta let Momma see it, baby.”

Beth buries her head in her father's shoulder and lets out a muffled cry of; “it hurts!”

“I know, sweetheart, I know.” Frank cooes, running his thumb along her shoulder. “Go get some tweezers, I got this.”

Karen nods and heads back into their house and into their bathroom, quickly washing her hands clean of the dirt that she had caked on her hands from her garden. Once they were clean from dirt, she collected peroxide, ointment, and a bandage along with the tweezers from the medicine cupboard.

Before she heads downstairs, Karen grabs a roll of scotch tape from her home office – just for a second method. Once downstairs, Karen grabs a small cup and drops a single ice cube in it from the tray in the freezer. Anything to make her baby girl more comfortable.

She returns outside to find Frank and Beth sitting on the picnic table, Beth sitting on her fathers lap. She's not crying anymore, probably due to some story her father is telling. Karen walks over to her boyfriend and daughter, kneeling down in front of her.

“You gonna be a brave girl and let Momma get out your splinter?” Frank asks, running a hand over Beth's blonde hair. She nods and sniffles, allowing Karen to first clean the tiny spot with peroxide. She uses the ice cube next to numb her finger before picking up the tweezers.

Beth shrinks away from her and pulls her hand from her mother. “No!”

“No? You want the splinter to stay?” Frank asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Frank, she doesn't want me to use these things.” Karen says, holding up the tweezers.

“How the fuck else are you gonna get it out?” Beth giggles at her father swearing and Karen shoots him a glare, reaching into the front pocket of her apron and pulling out the roll of tape. “How the fuck is that gonna help?”

“Swear again, Frank, and you'll be sleeping outside with the dogs.” She threatens.

Frank furrows his brow and mumbles something about the tweezers working just fine as Karen works with the tape.

The splinter comes out with the tape, Karen lifting the tape up to show Frank with a triumphant smile.

“That mean I don't have to sleep with the dogs?” He asks, nodding his head towards Max, Boss, and Venice, their three pitbulls, who were sleeping in the shade by a tree.

Karen smiles and presses her lips against Beth's forehead. “You okay now, sweetheart?” She asks, putting a little bit of ointment on her finger where the splinter was.

“Yes, Mommy.” Karen wraps a bright blue band-aid around her finger.

“Go play on the swingset, okay? Your daddy's gonna have to smooth down the wood for the sandbox before you can play in there again.” Frank says, patting her back as she climbs off her father's lap and runs towards the swingset not far from them. Karen leans up and presses her lips against Frank's briefly before the smoke alarm inside their house starts going off.

“Goddamn it, my goddamn fucking chicken.” Frank snaps, pulling from Karen and running back inside the house.

“Sleeping with the dogs!” Karen shouts after him, hearing Beth's laughter from the swings.

 


	11. "I'm not bothering you, am I?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "I'm not bothering you, am I?" prompt from captaincastle on tumblr.
> 
> warnings/tags: alcohol.
> 
> note: follows my anniversary fic (http://kastle.co.vu/post/143187773968/kastle-anniversary )

It used to be that Frank would only show up once in a while, whenever he needed to _remember_ his family. It would only be once or twice a month, at first. For six months, that's how it was. Then something changed and it was once a week. Karen had a sneaking suspicion it wasn't about his family anymore, but about the companionship.

She'd come home from work, mostly on Fridays, and Frank would be sitting there waiting for her. Like before, they didn't talk much. Karen would sit on her couch with Frank with her laptop on her legs and Frank on her left. He'd drink coffee, Karen would work on her laptop.

Sometimes he'd have something for her, a file sitting for her on her coffee table. Even then, he didn't say anything.

Fridays used to mean getting drunk with Matt and Foggy at Josie's. They used to mean not being able to walk straight and losing several games of pool (and winning a few that she was sure they let her win. Not that they'd ever admit that.) Now they meant something almost domestic.

She hated how much she liked it.

One particularly rough Friday after work, Karen entered her home with a slam of her door and a few choice words that shocked even a foul mouthed man like Frank. Still, he didn't talk, even as Karen grabbed a bottle of vodka from the freezer and joined him on the couch.

Karen opened the bottle and, despite the burn, leaned her head back to chug a fair amount of the clear alcohol. Frank stared, eyes wide and equal parts impressed and confused as he watched her.

“I'm not bothering you, am I?” Frank asked, almost amused as Karen pulled the bottle from her mouth. “Because I can go..”

Karen spilled a bit of vodka from her mouth as she let out a sudden, “no!” She turned to look at him and shook her head. “No,” Karen said, a bit more calm this time – to the growing amusement of Frank Castle. “but does just being an asshole fall under your list of requirements to Punish someone?” She asked, holding the bottle of vodka towards him. It was more to see if Frank _would_ take the bottle from her, not so much wanting to drink with him.

Frank snorted and shook his head, taking the bottle of vodka from her. He was more of a whiskey man himself, but he wasn't about to turn down alcohol. Frank drank from the bottle, cringing and scrunching up his nose as he handed the bottle back to her. “If that was the case, I'd have to Punish myself.”

 


	12. "Why are you laughing?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Why are you laughing" prompt from captaincastle on tumblr.
> 
> warnings; none
> 
> tags; frank gets his toenails painted, feat. beth page-castle,

“Shh, shh, shh.” Beth murmurs to her friend, turning to look at the brown haired girl next to her. “You're gonna wake him up if you keep giggling.”

“I'm sorry, it's just hard not to laugh.” Beth's friend, Rachel, says, trying to stifle her laughter as Beth brings the bright pink polish to her father's toes. “He's probably going to kill us when he sees it.”

“No, he won't... At least not me.”

What Beth and Rachel doesn't realize is that Frank Castle is already awake, had been for around ten minutes. The second the two of them had crept into the den where Frank had been napping, he had picked up on the noise – but choose to let this play out.

Of course, he hadn't realized that it means letting his daughter paint his toenails bright fucking pink. He'd caught a glimpse of the bottle when he looked before they'd gotten started and he had thought about just 'waking up' and scaring the hell out of them, but figured this was better to do.

“What does your Dad even do? He's always covered in bruises and shit.” Rachel asks.

Frank senses Beth's unease and nervousness and he can't help the guilt that creeps in his stomach. He'd never thought about Beth, or Karen – for that matter, having to lie to their friends about what he does. Now that Beth knew what he did, he can only imagine how it is to have to lie.

The lies to the people who live around town come easy for Frank. It's lie or be caught. He doesn't have a choice.

“He's a bounty hunter.” The lie that he and Karen had told her her whole life. The same lie she'd spend her life telling. There's the guilt again.

“Like Dog the Bounty Hunter?”

“Yeah, kinda like that.” Beth says, leaning back once she was finished with her job on her fathers toe nails. “Come on, lets get out of here before he wakes up.”

Frank listens to the two sets of footsteps until he can't hear them anymore and he opens his eyes, looking down at the bright pink toenails. “Aw, shit.” He murmurs. At least Beth made them look good – and at least he wore heavy boots.

He groans and leans his head back and shuts his eyes, falling back asleep until there's loud laughter bringing him from his slumber.

Frank looks up at Karen, who's got her hand covering her mouth while she shakes in laughter. “What?” Frank mumbles. “Why are you laughing?” He asks as he starts to sit up. His eyes land on his feet and he groans, remembering that his daughter had painted his toenails.

“It looks good, it's a good look on you.” Karen says, cackling a bit. Frank sits up the rest of the way and laughs, half asleep still. He reaches forward and pulls Karen down onto the couch with him and smirks.

“I'm gonna get her back for this.” He mumbles, shaking his head as he looks at his toes.

“I think you make it look good.”

Frank lets out a growl and shakes his head. “Shut up, ma'am.”

 


	13. "You think you could do better?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "You think you could do better?" prompt from anonymous on tumblr.
> 
> warnings; pedophilia implication

They're just trying to blend into the bar, have it not to be too obvious they aren't there to drink or play pool. Frank's there to learn more about a guy he's been following for a while, someone who likes to prey on children. Karen's there because she told Frank that a single guy in a bar sticks out like a sore thumb, especially if he's just staring at another person. With her there, at least he could blend in.

“Are you sure this guy is dirty? All he's done is drink with friends.” Karen says as she leans over the table and takes a shot with her pool cue. A striped ball sinks into one of the pockets and she moves around the table to take a second shot, this one doesn't fall into a pocket.

“Well, I didn't think he'd start shouting around to the bar that he likes lookin' at naked children.” Frank snorts, moving around the table to take his shot. He's more focused on the man he's following, barely paying attention to the balls in front of him. His ball doesn't even come close to the pocket he was shooting towards. “Gonna follow him until he does.”

Karen narrows her eyes at Frank as he stands straight and shakes her head. “Really? Follow him until he does? And what if there's nothing? What if you follow him all over town and you find nothing?”

“Gonna find somethin', always do when it comes to these guys.” Frank says, looking back up at him. “Go on, take your turn, blending in, right?”

She frowns and shakes her head but moves to take her turn, leaning over the table to do so. She doesn't sink the ball this time, moving over to the table by them to take a drink from her beer. They've been nursing the same bottles since they got there, needing clear heads for this.

“And how long are you going to be following him? When there are other guys you could be looking for?”

“Guys who mess with kids take priority.” Frank says, moving around the table. This time he sinks his ball into a pocket, taking another turn.

“I know, Frank,” Karen says, following him around the table. “But the longer you obsess over one guy, the longer -”

“You think you could do better?” Frank snaps, looking up at Karen from his spot over the table. “I didn't ask for your help, you insisted.” He says, coming back around the table. They're eye to eye, Karen having left her heels in the car and worn flats instead. “So it's what I say, what I want to do. This guy takes priority, and I'll follow him until I figure it the fuck out.”

Karen bites the inside of her cheek and nods, clearing her throat. “Okay, Frank. We'll follow him until we figure it the fuck out.”

 


	14. "Will you just tell me the truth?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Will you just tell me the truth" prompt from anonymous on tumblr.
> 
> warnings; none

“Can I ask you something?” Frank only gives a grunt in response, which Karen takes as a yes and reaches over to the sugar sitting by the window and takes it. She pours it into the coffee in front of her, picking up a spoon to stir it. She clicks her tongue a few times before she speaks. “Why did you blow up at trial? We had a game plan, I went over what Matt was going to say. We had a plan, Frank.”

Frank's eyes avert from Karen and he stares out the window, like he's searching for something. Like he's searching for an answer, for something to distract him or distract her. He agreed to breakfast with Karen every Wednesday.

Why had he agreed to this?

“Ain't nothing I said that wasn't true.”

“Frank, we... We had it all figured out. Shit, I basically scripted out what you needed to say. All you needed to do was remember it and you blew _everything_. How did you know that guy was going to be in prison? The one who could give you answers to get you closer to The Blacksmith?”

He doesn't answer, but his eyes flicker to Karen briefly before he lifts his coffee cup up to his lips, taking a long drink from it. He scrunches up his nose as he pulls the cup away from his lips. He sets it down on the table, resting his hands against the table. “We gotta talk about this? It's over. Blacksmith's dead. Asshole in prison is dead.”

Karen shakes her head and seeks out Frank's eyes, turning her head to look at him. If anyone would look at them, it would just like a couple bickering. “Will you just tell me the truth? You don't lie to me, that's always how it's been. Tell me how you got the information.”

Frank leans back into the booth and looks at Karen, shaking his head as he leans over the table. He doesn't respond, doesn't say a single thing. She can tell there's something that Frank is hiding, something serious.

It dawns on her, who else could have orchestrated that whole thing?

“Fisk.” She whispers.

He doesn't argue, doesn't agree.

“We could have found those answers, we could have..” Karen let out a slow deep breath. Frank doesn't know as much about Wilson Fisk and everything that happened with her. “Was it worth it? Being in bed with Fisk?”

Frank's head shoots back to look at Karen and for a second, his face is soft, flinching. The look on her face is enough to make _The Punisher_ flinch. “I ain't in bed with Fisk.”

“He gave you a name, you kill him for him, he helps you get out of jail.” Her voice is low, leaning over the table. Quiet enough so only they can hear. Loud enough so Frank knows she's furious. “It isn't balanced, he's going to call on that to balance it out and you know it. So I ask you again. Was it worth it?”

“Yeah, it was worth it.” It was. Sure, he and Karen could have found those answers themselves but it would have taken a long time. Time Frank didn't want to take. “Wasn't worth the look on your face, though.”

It was quiet. Karen almost didn't hear the mumbled confession. It doesn't calm her anger, but it does soften the glare she's giving him.

 


	15. "You're afraid, aren't you?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "You're afraid, aren't you?" prompt from anonymous on tumblr. get ready for this one, i think it's my one of my best fics.
> 
> warnings; none
> 
> tags; fisk,

“FISK RELEASED FROM PRISON”

The four words are everywhere; newspapers, television, radio, peoples mouths on the street. Karen can't escape the four words, no matter how much she tries. She tries to keep the fear she's feeling deep down, but she knows it's bubbling over the surface.

She's looking over her shoulder everywhere she goes in the few weeks that it's been since Fisk was released from prison. For Fisk, for anyone who still have loyalty to him. Every footstep that's too close, every person that linger she fears is one of his.

Karen keeps a strict schedule now; she wakes up, gets ready for work, goes to work, then comes home. She doesn't go out for lunch anymore or go to Josie's. She asks Foggy to pick her up groceries – and he doesn't ask why. She doesn't stop by her favorite coffee shop anymore either. It's work then home. She never takes the same route twice in a row, just to be safe.

She enters her home after work and leans against the door, letting out a few heavy breaths. “Stupid, stupid, stupid,” She says to herself, turning around to make sure she's locked all of them up. Three different dead bolts, all locked. Karen lets out a breath and starts taking a few steps backward until she collides with a firm body.

She opens her mouth to scream when a hand comes over and moves to cover her mouth and a familiar voice is in her ear. “It's me, it's Frank, don't scream.” He says. Karen squeezes her eyes shut and nods slowly and his hand moves from her mouth, just to be replaced with her own. She chokes out a sob and hears Frank move around to face her.

When had Frank gotten back to town? Had he ever left? When had Frank gotten to her apartment? How had he gotten in? Karen now has a lot of questions and about 0 answers to calm her.

Frank's arms slowly engulf Karen in a tight embrace and she stills for a second – is The Punisher really hugging her? It's awkward and too tight of a hug, but it's the first hug Karen's gotten in weeks – and it only makes her cry more, harder.

Her sobs finally die down ten, maybe fifteen minutes later but it feels like it's been hours.

“You okay?” He asks as he slowly pulls away. Frank sounds like he hasn't spoke a real sentence in a long time, his voice is rough and unsteady.

She nods slowly and clears her throat, opening her eyes finally. Her vision is blurry for a moment but once she wipes her face off and rubs her eyes, Frank comes into view. He looks worse for wear, a few fresh bruises on top of fading old ones. There's a cut or two on his face, but he looks clean shaven and with a fresh hair cut.

Karen has a feeling her bathroom was just used as a barbershop.

“What are you doing here?” Karen asks as Frank moves around her. He moves into her kitchen and looks around for a moment until he finds a glass and fills it up with water from the fridge. Frank brings the water over to her and hands it to her. She lifts the drink to her lips and takes a slow drink from it, then half of the glass in just two gulps.

“Noticed you were actin' like a damn bunny rabbit with a lawn mower on it's tail.” Okay, a weird metaphor.

“You were watching me?”

“Don't make it weird.” Frank says, leaning against her counter. Karen averts her gaze down to the glass in her hand, clearing her throat. “You're afraid, arent you?” When she doesn't respond right away, Frank speaks again. “Of me? You afraid of me?” There's something about his voice that Karen Page thought she would never hear from Frank Castle – sadness. Hurt. He sounds _sad_ and _hurt_ at the idea that Karen could be afraid of him.

The thought of being afraid of _Frank_ has never crossed Karen's mind, and she turns to look up at him, shaking her head. “N-No, Frank, I would never be...”

“Then when are you afraid of?” Karen's eyes avert from him again and they land on a newspaper sitting on her counter. Fisk's photo is on the front page, the words “FISK RELEASED FROM PRISON” in big block letters. It's weeks old, but Karen hasn't thrown it out yet.

Frank follows her gaze and picks up the newspaper, a deep frown forming on his face. “Fisk? Why're you scared of Fisk?” Karen knows Frank doesn't know much about her involvement with Union Allied Construction and Fisk and _Wesley._ No one knows about Wesley.

She moves from her spot between her kitchen and living room – which is just one step. She hasn't moved from her apartment, just repaired the bullet holes and her windows. Karen sits down on her couch and sighs, waiting until Frank steps over to her couch and sits down next to her.

“Do you remember when you asked me how I could be sure you weren't a monster?”

Frank furrows his brow as he watches Karen and nods his head slowly. “Yeah, I remember.”

“You couldn't be a monster.. You did... You did what you – what you had to do and if you were a monster for doing what you had to do then, then, then so was I.”

He stays silent, clearing his throat and turning his body a bit so that he was facing her. His head ducks down a bit and he finds her eyes, despite that she's trying to not look in his eyes. “Hey, hey,” Frank says, waiting until Karen looks at him. “what did you do?”

“You heard about Union Allied, right?” He nods. He'd been overseas when it happened, but he'd still heard about it when he'd asked Maria what was going on in Hell's Kitchen. “I used to work there, I was the one who uncovered it all, and it got me framed for murder – and almost killed.”

Frank doesn't look surprised at all.

“I started investigating it with a guy at the paper, Ben Urich. I got too close because... Fisk's right hand man kidnapped me.. It was him or me.”

Frank looks a little bit surprised – but he was right. It wasn't her first rodeo holding a gun on someone. “Does Fisk know?”

“I don't know, but I'm still.. I keep looking over my shoulder for him. For one of his men. I don't do anything but work anymore, I don't get even get my own groceries, Foggy does.”

“Do they know? The good lawyer and Red?” Karen doesn't question the nickname for Matt, she figures that he knows Matt is Daredevil – though she wonders how long he's known. She shakes her head and lifts her hands to run her fingers through her hair.

“No one but you.” She whispers.

It's silent between the two of them before Frank speaks again. “Nothin's gonna happen to you, alright? Not as long as I'm around.” She turns her head to look at Frank. He's a man of his word, but he can't guarantee that something won't happen to her. Frank knows he can't guarantee that.

But he'll be damned if he won't go down fighting to keep his promise.

 


	16. books & breaking the rules

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> books & breaking the rules prompt from anonymous on tumblr.
> 
> warnings; mentions of death
> 
> tags; high school au

There's a glimpse of movement from the corner of her eye and Karen's head turns, seeing a set of legs duck behind a bookshelf. She furrows her brow and looks around for a second before she follows the path she thinks the legs took. No ones supposed to be back here but her and she knows the library isn't haunted.

She stops when she sees a body hiding behind one of the bookshelves, one of the books that's certainly not supposed to be off the shelf in his hands. She knows who it is, Frank Castle. He's not in any of her classes as he's a grade higher than her but she knows him by reputation only. 

He has a reputation, but it's not necessarily a bad one – she think it isn't at least. The younger kids call him The Punisher, because if he sees someone being bullied, he always steps in. Always. She's seen it happen, in her freshmen year when he was just a sophomore. Her friend Foggy was being pushed around by some kids and Frank pulled them off of him. He wasn't at school for a week after that. 

Frank's learned to take care of the issue after school, at least that's what the whispers say. 

She's never spoken to him before, and she almost ducks out of the stacks and takes off in nervousness but takes a deep breath and speaks. “You're not supposed to be back here.” 

He's an intimidating looking guy. Broad shoulders, large hands, looks like he spends a little too much time in the gym. There's always some kind of bruise on his face, sometimes a new cut. His hair is normally cut short, military style but right now the top of his hair is a little bit long. Karen's guilty of wondering what it'd feel like to run her fingers through his hair. 

Frank's head slowly lifts to look up at Karen and his lips turn up in a bit of smile – half sly, half shy. She can't read him and Karen considers herself really good at reading people. At least, Foggy says she can read _him_ like an open book. “Gonna tell on me for breaking the rules?” His voice is amused with her. It slightly infuriates Karen. 

Karen shakes her head and crosses her arms over her stomach. You don't cross The Punisher, Karen knows that already. Even if she's sure he'd never hurt her, you still don't cross him. “Just don't get caught.” Karen says before she turns on her heel and starts to walk away from him. 

“Hey, wait.” Frank says and Karen cranes her head back around to look at him, tilting her head at him as he puts the book back in his hand, a first edition of _War and Peace_. She almost laughs, of course The Punisher was reading that. 

“What?” 

It only takes him a few steps to walk over to Karen and he stops in front of her. His boots give him an inch or two on her, otherwise they'd be the same height. “Why do you work here?” 

Karen chews on her lip and shrugs, looking towards the books. “I don't want to go home, the librarian is a family friend, so she lets me work here.” 

Frank tilts his head to the side and looks at Karen, concern written on his face. “Why don't you want to go home?” 

“My little brother died recently and... It feels empty without him so I guest... Stay out as much as I can.” Her eyes avert to the floor for a second before she looks back up at him. 

He doesn't say anything, no condolences, nothing. She doesn't mind, she's tired of hearing 'I'm sorry for your loss'. She's happy he's not saying anything. 

“Don't get caught in here, okay?” Karen says, starting to walk backwards away from Frank. He watches her leave and doesn't go after her. “And if you damage one book in here,” She turns back to Frank when she's out of the stacks, a small smile on her lips. “You'll be the one being punished.” 

Frank laughs and looks down at his feet, his ears turning red a little bit as Karen turns back around and walks away from him.


	17. "Would you stop that?" and "What if I say no?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Would you stop that?" and "What if I say no?" prompted by anonymous on tumblr
> 
> warnings; none
> 
> tags; s2 compliant

“Hi, Frank.” Karen says when she's standing in front of him. He's waiting for her in the interview room, hands shackled to the table and his legs to the floor. She really doesn't think that's necessary, if Frank was going to hurt her he would have done it back at the hospital.

But she doesn't argue with the guards, she just nods and tells them they can go. She doesn't need them for this. She's not afraid of Frank. 

“Ma'am.” Frank says, his voice rough from lack of use. Karen takes a few steps over and sets down the Styrofoam cup of coffee in front of him. “What's this?” He asks. There's a red lip print along the edge, clearly from Karen's red lipstick. 

She pulls out the chair across from him and takes a seat, reaching down into her purse to pull out the files from Foggy and Matt. “Coffee. Good coffee, not whatever shit they're giving you here.” Karen says as she moves to sit down in front of him. “I said it was mine so they let me bring it in with me. I've only had a few sips of it.” 

Frank reaches forward and takes the cup, bringing it to his lips to take a drink from it. “Thanks,” He says, setting the coffee down on the table. 

“What's this?” Karen asks, nodding to the piece of paper by Frank. She can see that there's writing on it, but she can't make it out. 

“You asked me to write down everything I remember about that night.” Frank says, looking down at the paper. “There is it.” 

She waits a moment before reaching forward to pick up the piece of paper, glancing down at it. She looks up at him before she speaks. “Do you want me to read this first before we go over the stuff for your trial?” Frank nods 

Karen sits across from Frank while she looks over what he's written down for her, everything that he can remember about his families attack. It's gory details that are going to haunt her for days. 

Every few seconds she glances up at Frank to find that he's just staring at her. He's been staring at her for a while now, since he handed over the paper. 

“Will you stop that?” Karen asks. 

Frank furrows his brow but looks amused as hell with her. 

“Stop what?” 

“Staring at me. You're making me uncomfortable.” Karen says. He isn't really, but Karen's finding it hard to hide her emotions while he's staring at her. 

Frank's handwriting is surprisingly good, something she really hadn't expected. She had expected to have to ask every few words what a word said, but she can read every word. 

She really wishes she couldn't read every word. She wishes she couldn't make out any of it. Frank had remembered a lot during their first conversation, but this... This was more detail than she needed. When she gets to the last part of the paragraph, Karen sets her hand over her mouth and clears her throat. 

“Frank, this is...” 

“Yeah.” She looks back down at the paper and over the words. “You okay?” Karen looks back up at Frank and frowns. 

“ _You're_ asking _me_ if I'm okay?” 

“I know... I know how gruesome it is, it's hard to.. To read.” 

Karen lets out a huff and chews on her lip. “What if I say no?” She asks, her voice small. Reading this, Karen knew she'd have nightmares tonight. 

Frank's eyes meet Karen's for a brief second, only allowing eye contact for a few moments. He looks away from her after that, his eyes landing on the coffee again. 

It's silent for a few moments between them before Karen clears her throat and opens up the folder she'd brought with her. “I found these, when I was looking through some old archives.” Karen turns the folder around and pushes the folder towards him. “Have you see these before?” 

Frank places his hands on them and pulls the papers towards him, shaking his head slowly. “No, I haven't.” 

“Go over those, I just.. I need a minute.” Karen pushes the chair out from behind and turns to the door. 

“Ma'am?” 

Karen stops by the door and looks back at Frank, who still hasn't looked at her. “Yeah, Frank?” 

He looks like he might say something else, but it's clear he changes his mind. “Thanks for the coffee.” Frank says. Karen's lips turn up in a bit of a smile and she nods, tapping her fingers against the door. He's already thanked her for that, but she doesn't mind. 

She nods and the door opens, a guard standing in front of her. Karen turns to him for a moment and lets him know she's only going to be a minute outside of the room before she turns back to Frank. “You're welcome, Frank.”


	18. "you're hurting me, let me go!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "You're hurting me, let me go!" prompt from anonymous on tumblr.
> 
> warnings; none
> 
> tags; ben page

“Hey, kid, where’s your Ma?” Frank says to Karen’s ten year old son, resting his hand on his kind of step-sons shoulder. He’s not his biological father, but Frank’s been the only father that he’s ever known.

Ben lifts his hand up and jerks his hand towards Frank and Karen’s bedroom. “Think she said something about taking a nap.” Frank nods, watches Ben turn back to his homework, and heads back towards the bedroom. 

When he opens the door and steps into her bedroom, he sheds off his jacket and turns to the bed, expecting to see Karen fast asleep. Instead she’s leaning back against the headboard of their bed, her hands resting on her stomach. 

“Ben said you were sleeping, what are you doing?” Frank asks, leaning against the door frame. 

Karen moves the blanket next to her side and Frank’s attention turns to the item under the blanket. It’s a folder that was tucked in his underwear drawer. Someone Frank was chasing down. 

Frank had given up the life of The Punisher when Karen had gotten pregnant ten years ago. Even if he wasn’t the father, he gave it up to help her raise him. It hadn’t been cold turkey, he’d killed a dozen times throughout the years, each time it had caused a large argument between him and Karen. Each time, he said he would be the last time. 

But this guy, the guy he’d been tracking, he’d found when he read an article about a school teacher who was accused of raping and killing several of his students. There had been no evidence of substance, and he’d gotten off clean. All of the students had been Ben’s age and he didn’t have a gender preference. 

The guy had been good at hiding, in four months he hadn’t found a single trace of where he was. He’d gotten so addicted to it he’d recently lost his job. He’d explained it to Karen as there just not being work. 

“Karen..” 

“Is this what you’ve been doing? Instead of being here with Ben and I?” Karen asks, looking up at him. She stands to her feet and holds the folder in her hand, shaking it at Frank. “Is this why you lost your job?” When Frank doesn’t respond, Karen throws the folder at him. “Is it!?” 

“He’s in the next room, come on.” Ben doesn’t know who Frank used to be. All he knows is that Karen and Frank met when she worked for Uncle Matt and Uncle Foggy. Frank steps closer to Karen, looking back briefly to make sure Ben isn’t listening. 

“Fuck, I can’t believe I was stupid enough to believe you.  _Again_.” 

Frank drops to his knees and shakes his head. Ben is far enough away that he won’t hear them yelling, but he still wants to calm her down. Make her understand. “You read the articles, right? You read it, you know what he did, I couldn’t just let him walk free out there.” Frank’s hand lifted and he waved his hand towards where Ben was. “All those kids were Ben’s age.” 

“Don’t. Don’t you  _dare_  use  _my_ son against me.” Karen snaps, leaning against the window frame. “You _promised_ , Frank. The second you found out I was pregnant, you gave up being The Punisher to make sure no one could use us against you.” 

“I know.” 

“I have stood by you every single time you’ve killed since then because  _every_  time it’s the last time, right? Right, Frank!?” 

“Baby, please.” Frank doesn’t call her baby very often, only when he’s trying to calm her down. Frank Castle isn’t one for pet names unless he needs to pull them out. 

“We made a promise when we left Hell’s Kitchen. You aren’t The Punisher, I don’t go poking around in things that could get me killed. We promised.” 

“I understand, baby, but right now this guy needs to be-” 

“You lost your  _job_ , Frank! We barely have money to cover rent and the things we need because of  _you_. I’ve had to pull triple shifts just to cover our lives because of  _you_ , I’ve had to-” 

“Enough!” Frank shouts and he lifts his hand, knocking over a lamp and a frame that was sitting on a table. “I know what the fuck has happened because of me!” Frank looks up and sees the look on Karen’s face and it feels like a knife has pierced his stomach. She’s looking at him with a look of anger and fear. 

“Get out.” Karen says, pursing her lips as tears flood her eyes. 

Frank shakes his head and crawls closer to her. “Come on, baby, don’t do that. Don’t do this.” He stands to his feet and wraps his hands around her wrists, pressing them down onto the windowsill. “You have to, you have to hear me out.” Karen starts to struggle against Frank but he holds her hands down. He’s trying to explain and he’s not letting go until she listens. “You have to listen, I was doing this for Ben, that guy has to die, he has to.” 

“You’re hurting me, let me go.” Karen’s voice is steady, as to not alert her son to what’s going on. The last thing Karen and Frank need is Ben in the room trying to figure out what’s going on. 

It takes her words a moment to sink into Frank’s head that he’s hurting Karen and his fingers slowly loosen from her wrists. One at a time then all at once, moving his hands from her. “Baby, I’m..” 

Karen moves out from him and heads straight for the door, grabbing her bag on her way out. Frank starts to follow her out, but stops when she’s standing by the couch where Ben is. He doesn’t hear what she says to him but he’s on his feet, jacket in hand and they’re out the door, leaving Frank to the mess in the bedroom.


	19. "Wanna dance?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Wanna dance?" prompt from quas-ar on tumblr
> 
> warnings; none
> 
> tags; none

Snow was normally one of Karen’s absolute favorite things. She loved the sights, loved being out when it was snowing, loved playing in the snow. Karen Page loved snow. Until it trapped her in a cabin with Frank Castle. She was starting to understand why he hated snow.

“This is your fault.” Karen said, crossing her arms as she looked out the window. They were still trapped, the car they’d arrived in was trapped, the door was covered. Everything was covered by snow and even though it was beautiful, they had originally planned to leave that day. 

Frank looked up at Karen from his spot on the couch, laughing at her comment. He set his cup of coffee down on the table and crossed his arms over his chest. “Uh huh, how so?” 

“I was happy just sitting at home during my vacation and you said, ‘lets go to a cabin and get away from everything’. And then you drove us to the cabin and now we’re trapped.” Karen said, turning around to glare at Frank. She wasn’t really angry with Frank, but she was angry with the situation itself, and at herself for not checking the weather before they drove all the way up here. 

Frank chuckled in amusement at her in her anger with him. Even if he knew he should not be laughing at Karen, when she was doing this fake anger with him, it made him laugh. “Could be worse. There could be assholes shooting at us instead of us just enjoying an extended weekend together.” 

Karen nodded, he did have a point. It was nice to not be shot at for once in her life. The past few years it had happened more than she had ever thought it would or had nightmares about. “They would also get stuck and that would be really amusing to see people with guns stuck in the snow.” Karen retorted with an amused smile, moving from the window she was staring at. She stopped by a table that held a record player that came with the cabin. She knelt down and began flipping through the albums before pulling one out. 

Karen stood to her feet and pulled the record out of it’s sleeve before setting it on the turntable. She picked up the tone arm and set it on top of the record’s grooves. As the music started playing through the cabin, Karen walked back over to where Frank and sat on the couch next to him. On instinct, Frank’s arm lifted up and wrapped around her. 

“Wanna dance?” Frank asked a minute into the song. Karen lifted her head and looked up at him, tilting her head to the side for a moment. “This is dancin’ music, ma'am.” He said, standing to his feet. Frank pulled Karen to her feet and tugged her close, one arm around her waist and the other grasping her hand in his. 

“I never pictured you one for slow dancing, Frank Castle.” She said softly, the hand that wasn’t laced with Frank’s resting on the back of his neck. 

“Gotta keep you on your toes.” He commented with a grin. Karen rolled her eyes at Frank and rest her head on his shoulder as they swayed to the music. 

Alright, maybe Karen still loved snow just a little bit.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> frank/karen + kiss on the nose & awkward kiss asked by jerejeahn (and anonymous) on tumblr. combined two requests
> 
> warnings; none
> 
> tags; frank takes care of a sick karen

Frank sets a water bottle and a packet of crackers down on the bedside table next to Karen and she rolls over slowly to look up at him. She’s been in bed for a week straight with the flu and despite that Frank keeps trying to get her to actually go to the doctor, Karen waves him off and tells him to go get her more water. Or more magazines. Or another movie from the only rental place in town. And Frank, begrudgingly, goes. Sometimes he considers picking her up after she’s taken her pills and she’s out and just taking her to the doctors, but he doesn’t want to face her wrath.

The Punisher is terrified of his girlfriend when she gets angry (but if you ever asked him about it, he would deny it). 

“Thank you.” She mumbles and sits up a bit, reaching forward to pick up the water bottle. Frank drops two pills in her hand and she opens the water bottle, pops the pills and swallows. Karen leans against the headboard and waits for a moment to see if she can even keep the pills down before she speaks. “When I was a little girl, I hated taking pills so much that my mom would cut them if she could.” 

“Oh yeah?” He asks as he sinks down on the bed next to her. He’s not worried about catching the flu from her anymore, he figures if he was going to get it, he would have by now. 

Frank notices that Karen doesn’t really talk about life before him much when it’s unprompted. It’s rare for her to bring up her parents or her childhood if he’s not the one who brings it up. “Yeah.” She says softly and she smiles to herself. 

He opens his mouth to bring up something from his life, but when Karen turns on her side and cuddles up to Frank, he falls silent and wraps his arm around her. He leans down to press a kiss to her cheek but when Karen looks up, he misses his goal and his lips press into her nose. 

Karen scrunches up her nose as she pulls away from Frank, looking at him with a frown on her face. “Did you just kiss my nose?” 

“I was aiming for your cheek, but you moved.” Frank mumbles. 

“Please never do that again or I will learn how to sneeze on command.” 

Frank’s a tiny bit taken back by her disgusting threat and he nods in agreement. “Yes, ma'am.”


	21. shy kisses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kastle + shy kisses prompted by captaincastle on tumblr
> 
> warnings; none
> 
> tags; none

His kisses are soft against her shoulder and for a second she’s not actually sure she’s not just dreaming them until his mouth ends up just under her ear and she can feel his hot breath on her skin. She can smell the coffee and the bourbon on his mouth and she slowly starts to turn around to face him. His head ducks down to press his lips repeatedly against the soft skin of her collarbone.

Karen can’t remember if he’s ever kissed her this softly before. Their first kiss had been out of desperation and a little too much to drink, but even since they’d been together for a while, every time Frank kissed her – her lips or her body – it had never been this soft. And he’d never gone out of his way to not look at her before. 

His face is hidden by the darkness of the room but she can barely make out his hair as he feels him kiss over the t-shirt she wears to bed, bunching up her shirt once he gets to her stomach. Frank’s on a mission to kiss over every inch of her body that he can get away with. 

He’s still behind her on his side, so it’s awkward when he gets to her thighs and her calves, but it doesn’t stop him from planting soft kisses on every inch of his skin that he can get to. He stops at her ankles and continues back up her body, trying to get every inch that he missed. 

Frank ducks his head back behind her body and presses kisses along her back until he’s back at her shoulder and he sighs, tightening his arm around her waist and pulling her against him. His head falls against pillow he lies his head on so often that it smells like him when he’s not there and Karen finds herself cuddling the pillow without thinking about it. 

Karen can feel his bare skin against hers and it feels so good, she doesn’t move her shirt back down so it’s more comfortable to sleep in. Her eyes lull shut as she hears Frank quiet snoring and she smiles softly, settling back against Frank’s back. 

She doesn’t question the kisses at all the next morning when she wakes up and Frank’s in her kitchen making coffee and scrambled eggs. She doesn’t question them the next time she wakes up to Frank returning from being The Punisher and his soft kisses on every part of her body he can get to.


	22. falling in love with their best friend’s partner au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> frank/karen + falling in love with their best friend’s partner au (no one said it had to be romantic partner) asked by princessdianna on tumblr
> 
> warnings; none
> 
> tags; none

Frank’s sitting on her window sill with her standing in between his legs, his hands resting on her back. Her hands are around the back of his neck and their mouths are against each other, kisses feverish and desperate like they’re not going to see each other for weeks when in reality he’ll be back later tonight.

“You need,” Karen mumbles as she pulls away and Frank pulls her back against him and presses his lips into hers, mumbling something that sounds like ‘not yet’. She easily gives into Frank and keeps kissing him, but moves her hands down to rest on top of his shoulders. 

“You need to go,” Karen murmurs against Frank’s mouth, her hands pressing against his shoulders as she tries to get Frank out of the apartment. Matt and Foggy are about to be over and even though they’ve somehow managed to form a friendship with Frank – they don’t want anyone to know they’ve been together for a while. Frank is finally in a good place with Matt and Foggy and they both know that Foggy and Matt knowing that they’re together will ruin it. 

Or maybe it’s an excuse so they don’t have to really face what feelings they have for each other. 

Karen never thought that Matt and Foggy would be friends with Frank, but after he saved her from a most certain and violent death, they felt in debt to him. Sometimes when someone is too much for Matt, he drops the name to Frank. Sometimes Frank drops someone outside their door, tied up and with a signed confession to their crimes pinned on their chest. Sometimes Frank would even take Matt with him if he needed a little extra help. 

Karen doesn’t want to ruin that. 

Frank turns from Karen for a moment and opens the door to the fire escape so he can get out of there before they even get to the door. He climbs out of the window and turns back around to lean and grab just one more kiss from Karen. 

She grins and wraps her hands around the back of his neck. “Go,” She orders smacking his shoulder playfully. Frank pulls away from her, says a ‘yes, ma'am’ and starts down the fire escape and she shuts the window before he can get the idea to try to come back. 

Karen stands there and watches Frank as he climbs down four floors of fire escape and walks down the sidewalk. 

Normally after Frank leaves, Karen wouldn’t shower so she could continue to smell like him but since she’s meeting her friends right after this, she doesn’t want to have to explain why she smells like coffee and gunpowder. She scrubs and scrubs until she smells more like strawberries and coconut, but she can still smell the faint scent of Frank. Hopefully Matt and Foggy won’t notice. 

Her outfit for the day has been hanging up against her dresser since early in the morning, down to the underwear and bra she’s meant to wear. She does her hair and makeup before dressing, slipping her shoes on when there’s a knock at her door. Just in time. 

“Just a minute!” Karen calls out to her front door, grabbing her purse, her keys, and a jacket to wear just in case it gets chilly. She walks out to her door and sets the alarm that Frank installed after someone broke into her place. 

When Karen opens the door, she’s very surprised to see Frank in the middle of Foggy and Matt, both of their arms around Frank’s shoulders. Foggy has a nervous (Frank will never not make him nervous) but goofy grin on his face and Matt is looking at Karen like he knows everything. And he probably does. 

“Look who we found, thought Frank could join us for dinner.”


	23. Karen curling herself around Frank when he is having a nightmare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Karen curling herself around Frank when he is having a nightmare, prompted by kaarencastle on tumblr.
> 
> warnings; none
> 
> tags; none

Karen doesn’t know how often Frank has nightmares, they only spend a few nights a week together, but if he’s having them every single night she doesn’t blame him for not sleeping for days at a time and surviving mostly on coffee.

He wakes her up in the middle of the night each time he comes over at the start of his nightmares. It starts with the tossing and turning, which sometimes ends in him whacking Karen on her side once or twice. Most nights she’s able to wake up before it happens. 

Depending on how bad the nightmare is, she’s able to wake him up and pull him out of it. Some nights though, it’s completely impossible and she just has to let him ride it out. 

This is one of those nights. 

Karen wakes up when he rolls over and the force of his hard body slamming down onto her bed jolts her awake. 

Frank’s murmuring words that she can’t make out but she knows are the names of his family. She knows it’ll never stop haunting Frank. She can tell what he’s far gone, there’s going to be no way to get him out of the nightmare until it’s done and he wakes up. 

She rolls onto her side and brings her hand up to his back, slowly running her hand up and down his back. It’s the only thing she knows how to comfort him when he’s having a nightmare. Sometimes she thinks he can feel her touch and it calms him, other nights it doesn’t seem to make a difference, other nights it seems to only make it worse. 

Tonight’s a night her touch seems to calm him. 

His murmuring quiets down a little bit and he rolls back over again onto his back. Karen scoots over closer to Frank, running her fingers up his chest. She drags her fingers along the scars that litter his body, holding her head with her other hand. Karen wishes there was more she could do for him. 

When they talk about the nightmares, Frank sometimes jokingly suggests that she should just tie him down before he goes to bed. There are some nights when she wishes she had. 

Karen curls one of her legs around his, tucking her foot under his ankle and wraps her arms around his waist, resting her head on top of his chest. If it’s one of those nights that her touch calms him, then she’ll put her whole damn body on top of him.


	24. going away to war au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> going away to war au + karen being the one to go away, prompted by kaarencastle
> 
> warnings; none
> 
> tags; au

Karen’s deployment papers arriving were not a surprise to her. She’d known she was coming up on the list for deployment, it had been a few years since her last deployment overseas. So when she got her papers, she wasn’t surprised. She was surprised at how her husband reacted.

“Frank,” Karen climbed into the bed with her husband and shook his back. Frank grumbled something about five more minutes and buried his head further under the pillow. “Frank Castle, wake up right now.” Karen said, grabbing his left arm and pulling him onto his back. 

“I’m up, I’m up.” He mumbled, although Frank didn’t open his eyes. 

Frank opened his eyes when a pillow smacked him in the face and he scowled at his wife. “What the hell was that for?” Karen handed him the papers and Frank slowly began to sit up. He recognized the papers, he’d seen them before with the Marines. He didn’t know why they bother him. They’re a military couple, deployment is just something you deal with. 

“Are you okay?” Frank asked, turning to look at her. He hadn’t been scared each time he went out on deployment, but he had been terrified when Karen went out on deployment. 

Karen flashed him a smile and nodded. “Always.” She reassured Frank, resting her head on his bare shoulder. Even when he’d gone out on deployment, Frank’s concern was always Karen first. “Are you?” 

“Not at all.” Frank admitted, turning his head to the papers again. It’s a six month deployment, but so was her first one. That turned into two years. 

They’d been talking about starting a family, moving out of their small apartment and into a big house. But this… This put all their plans back. Put them on hold. Frank’s eyes went straight to her stomach, the stomach he’d wanted to see swell with his child growing inside her. They’d start a family when she came back. He told himself that repeatedly in his head. He had to. 

Frank put the papers on the end table and leaned back against the headboard, pulling Karen down at his side. His arms went around and held her tightly to his body. His head rest on her shoulder, a sigh leaving his lips. Everything would have to wait. 

They stayed in bed for a while that morning, Frank holding onto her tightly. He started to consider all the ways that he could get her out of it, but knew that if he even tried to get her out of it, she’d probably end up killing him. Well, that’d get her out of her deployment, but he’d be dead and she’d be in jail. 

The day Karen left felt like it dragged on, even though they’re awake at 3 AM for her 6 AM deployment. Frank made coffee and breakfast while Karen got ready. Her bags had been packed a while ago one night when Karen couldn’t sleep. 

When she came into the kitchen in her uniform, Frank could barely look at her. She’s dealt with enough of his deployments that she couldn’t believe he’d act like such a child, but she had no choice but to accept it and deal with it. She really didn’t feel like leaving her husband after a fight. 

Frank came with her to the airport, but he refused to go in with her. She loved her husband, but sometimes the way he refused to talk about his feelings in person was one of the few things that she actually hated about the man. Karen figured she’d end up with a letter somewhere along the way that explained exactly why Frank had decided to act like a child. She always did. 

“Come home to me.” Frank mumbled, pressing his lips against his wife's. 

A smile formed on her lips and even though it’s a promise she knew there was chance she won’t be able to keep, she made it. “Always.”


	25. high school au

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> poey on tumblr prompted; kastle high scool AU: (popular) frank has trouble asking (wallflower) karen to prom :) (they dont really know each other well – they only have a few classes together)
> 
> warnings; none
> 
> tags; high school au

Frank can remember the first time he ever saw Karen Page very clearly as if it was yesterday. He was in the park on a run and there was a girl sitting on one of the benches with her head buried in a book. Normally, he wouldn’t have given a damn about a girl reading on a park – but the box of peeps sitting on her lap catches his attention. They’re the purple bunnies – in the middle of the summer when peeps are not being sold.

Until he learned her name when they started their senior year of high school, he referred to her as Peeps whenever he spoke about her. He offhandedly makes the comment to his friend Matt; “I’m gonna tell our kids about that one day”. 

He sees her throughout the summer in the park, at the grocery store, even as he’s on his early morning runs and she’s walking into the library. 

And a normally confident Frank Castle can’t think of a single way to say hello. 

Peeps is in three of his classes, English, Math, and History. He never pays more attention than during roll call to hear her name called in English; Karen Page. She barely looks up from the book in her hands to call out ‘here’. 

He makes a point to get the seat next to her in Math in the middle of the day, but she’s still got a book in her hands and doesn’t pay a single piece of attention to him. He does notice that it’s a different book from the one she had in English. 

History is his last class and she sits in the far back and once again she has her head buried in a different book. There’s no way she’s on her third book in one day, he thinks. But he’s barely paying attention to what the teacher is talking about, even if he can’t look back at Karen. He still thinks Peeps is a good nickname for her. 

The next day at lunch, he decides that Frank Castle is not going to be some weird little love sick puppy obsessed with some girl he hasn’t even spoken to. Even though he hadn’t been able to actually talk to her any time he saw her. Not the point. 

Frank finds her, after trying to causally seem like he’s just looking for a space to sit and not a specific person, in one of the corners. He shouldn’t be surprised when he sees a stack of books sitting in front of her and one in her hand as she eats what looks like a salad, but they’re all the same books from the day before. He knew there was no way she’d gotten through them all already. 

He’d barely noticed what she was wearing the day before and wonders if it’s the same kind of outfit as today. She’s got a nice blouse on and he can see her skirt sticking out from under the table, her blonde hair pulled up into a loose bun. 

Frank sits across from her and it takes her a moment to look up from the book in her hands to acknowledge his presence. “Hi.” Karen says, her eyebrow raised in confusion. 

Her voice sounds so much like music that he forgets to reply for a moment. “Hey,” 

“Nice chat.” Karen says before turning back to her book. 

_Smooth_. “Do you always read three books at a time?” 

Karen looks up at him and her brow furrows and she licks her lips. “Yeah. Fiction, nonfiction, autobiography.” 

“Aren’t the last two kind of the same?” 

“I guess they can be.” She says, her nose crinkling up in a way that Frank finds adorable. Adorable? He’s offended at himself for thinking that word. “Are you gonna keep staring at me like that? It’s kind of freaking me out.” 

Frank mumbles an apology and picks up his muffin, although why he’s eating a muffin for lunch he can’t remember, and starts picking apart at it. Karen returns to her book and Frank eats a muffin in silence. 

When the bell rings for lunch, Karen stands to her feet, and picks up whatever is left of her salad and throws it away. She collects her books and holds them tightly to her chest, staring at Frank for a moment. “See you in history.” Karen said with a small grin on her face. 

Frank stares back at Karen as he stands to his feet, bunching up his trash in his hands. He watches her walk away before tossing the ball of trash he’d made away from him. 

Karen and Frank don’t really speak that much throughout the year after the second day of school when Frank interrupted her lunch. She joined the schools newspaper and yearbook, which took up most of her time. Sometimes he’d talk to her during Math, but Karen never really paid him that much attention. 

As prom starts to round it’s corner, Frank gets a lot of invitations – and he turns every single one of them down because he’s dead set on getting Karen to go with him. Of course, getting her to go with him is a struggle – mostly because he can’t get her to stand still long enough for him to ask her. 

“Can we talk later? I’m already late.” “Later!” “I don’t have time, Frank, I’ll talk to you later.” 

Frank’s staying late after school (detention, he got detention for getting in a small scuffle that only left the only kid with a _slightly_ broken nose) and heading down the hallway to finally go home when he sees Karen sitting in the classroom that the newspaper meets in. He knocks briefly but when Karen doesn’t answer, he walks into the room anyway. 

He taps her shoulder when he comes up behind her and she pulls her headphones off and looks up at him. “Shit, fuck.” Frank grins, he had never heard her swear before. Well, not that he hears her talking that much. “What do you want, Frank?” She asks. 

“Well, I’ve been trying to get five minutes of your time for about… Well, the whole year but especially the last few weeks.” Frank says, leaning against the table next to Karen. She looks up at him from the computer she’s working at and sighs. 

“Okay, five minutes.” She says, minimizing the word document she’s working on. “I have five minutes, what do you want to talk about?” 

“Are you going to prom?” 

Karen shrugs and crosses her legs. “I don’t think so, unless I’m going for the yearbook, but I think someone else has that paper. But everyone else is useless here so I might be doing it anyway. Why?” 

Frank forgets everything that he had planned to say to her and stuttered out something that he thinks was 'Would you like to go to prom with me’ but when Karen blinks at him he wonders if that’s not what he said at all. 

“What?” 

“Do you wanna go to prom? With me?” 

Karen stares at Frank for a few minutes before responding. “Can’t get a date?” She asks, crossing her arms over her chest. 

Frank shakes his head. “No, girls asked me. I want to go with you.” Karen tilts her head as she looks up at him and she smiles a bit, pursing her lips. 

“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll go with you.” Karen says. 

“Great. I’ll uh,” 

“Your five minutes are up, Frank.” She says with an amused grin on her face, opening the word document again and pulling her phones back up to her ears. 

He tells Matt again that this is a story he’s going to tell their children.


	26. Frank waiting hand and foot on a very pregnant Karen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Frank waiting hand and foot on a very pregnant Karen, prompted by anonymous on tumblr.
> 
> warnings; none
> 
> tags; pregnant karen

Karen pushed herself off the couch and walked – waddled – into the kitchen where Frank was cooking breakfast, her hand pressed on the small of her back. She was aching and tired, but also really hungry and Frank was taking his sweet time with it.

“Do you hate me and the baby?” Karen asked as she came up over to him. She pressed her lips to behind his ear and leaned forward to grab his coffee cup and lift her to her face. 

“Hey, hey, what the fuck are you doing?” Frank asked, grabbing the coffee cup from her face. 

Karen whined and reached for it again. “I just want to smell it, you don’t know how much it sucks to not have coffee, especially when your boyfriend is addicted to coffee and constantly have coffee and will not let you smell it.” 

Frank glared at Karen, completely unaffected by her whining. “Go back to the couch.” 

“Frank, I don’t want to sit on the couch, I wanna smell your coffee.” Frank sighed and moved his coffee cup back to her. 

“Now go back to the couch.” Karen smiled, at least she won that argument. She walked back to the couch and, with difficulty, sat back down on the couch. Karen lifted the coffee cup to her nose and slowly inhaled the scent, sighing contently. 

Her boyfriend returned a few minutes later with a plate of pancakes and eggs, trading his coffee cup for the plate of food. “Thank you.” Karen said and set the plate on top of her stomach to use as a table to eat. 

“What are you doing?” Frank asked after taking a drink of his coffee. 

“My stomach is the perfect table for my plate!” Karen exclaimed, pointing to her makeshift table. He narrowed his eyes at Karen, but decided to not fight her on it and moved back to the kitchen to make himself a plate of breakfast. 

He returned a few minutes later with his own plate, sitting on the couch next to her while he ate – his eyes never leaving her while he ate. 

Frank was a little obsessive when it came to keeping an eye on Karen. He knew that Karen could easily handle herself even though she was ready to pop at any moment, but he couldn’t help but stay at her side. 

He hadn’t done that for Maria’s pregnancies and it was one of the things he regretted the most. 

Karen started to stand to her feet to take her plate back to the kitchen, only to have Frank interrupt her process. “Hey, hey, on your ass.” Frank ordered. Karen grumbled and sat back down on the couch. “I’ll take care of it.” 

“Frank, you’re busy eating, I can carry my plate to the kitchen.” 

Frank glared at Karen until she fell silent and turned to look at the television, adjusting on the couch. “You okay?” 

“I’m fine. There’s a probably seven pound baby in my stomach and you’re suffocating me. So I’m wonderful.” She snapped a little harsher than she meant to. Frank fell silent this time and went back to his plate. “I’m sorry.” She said after a few moments. “I’m just frustrated, Frank.” 

“S'alright.” Frank said, standing to his feet and taking Karen’s plate from her. He took the plates into the kitchen and returned a few minutes later, a second cup of coffee in his hand. It was only filled up a few inches and he handed it to Karen. “For your weird smelling thing.” 

Karen smiled and took the mug from him, lifting it to her nose to inhale the scent of coffee. Frank pressed his lips to her forehead before sitting on the couch with her. “Turn around, face your back to me.” When she did, Frank brought his hands up to her back to massage her back. 

“I miss work. I miss Ellison telling me my articles are crap. I miss the weird guy who stares at my ankles just a little too long.” 

“Wait what?” 

“Nothing. Go back to the massage.”


	27. Karen watching Frank work-out (and being caught).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kaarencastle prompted; Karen is caught watching Frank work out at the gym. Either Frank catches her or someone else does. Preferably Foggy who doesn't let her hear the end of it. :)
> 
> warnings; none
> 
> tags; none

Karen stood at one of the windows behind the new offices of Nelson and Murdock, her head tilted to the side as she watched Frank outside. There wasn’t much for him to do around the office, even though he had insisted on being there when they opened the new doors.

He was outside doing push-ups to pass the time, and Karen was more than willing to stand there watching him. Frank was a beautiful man, you know, for a vigilante who had once used her as bait. Karen didn’t really understand why he kept hanging around. Not that she minded, especially if this would often be her sight. 

“What are you looking at?” A voice from behind her caught her attention and Karen spun around to see Foggy – and Matt - standing behind her. She blocked the window so Foggy couldn’t see out the window and that she was blatantly checking out The Punisher. 

“Nothing.” Karen said, leaning against the window sill. 

“She’s lying,” Matt said. 

Karen narrowed her eyes at Matt, which felt pointless because he couldn’t see it. “Don’t do that, you know I hate it when you do that.” She snapped. Foggy came towards the window and snuck a peak behind her shoulder, his eyes widening when he saw who she was looking at. 

“Really, Karen? You were checking out The Punisher?” 

There was a weird silence in the room for a moment, considering that she and Matt had never been able to work out their issues. She’d tried to take Frank’s advice to heart, but she could never get passed all the lies. Karen cleared her throat and opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off. 

“What’s he even doing here, anyway? Shouldn’t he be out killing people?” Foggy asked. Karen moved away from the window and towards her desk, letting out an awkward breath. “Or is he just here to give you a show? Does he know you check him out?” 

“Foggy!” Karen snapped, turning her head to look at him from her desk. Foggy came towards Karen’s desk and turned to look out the window. 

“Perfect view.” 

“Come on, Foggy, leave her alone.” Matt said, walking from where Karen’s desk would sit towards the room where his was. 

“Thank you, Matt!” Karen called out to him. When Foggy and Matt went into their respective offices, Karen’s eyes found the window again, watching Frank do push ups. Her desk really did have the perfect view of the courtyard.


	28. Frank gives Matt some advice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kaarencastle asked: Matt's got cold feet on his wedding to Elektra and a happily married Frank gives him some advice. :)
> 
> warnings; none
> 
> tags; none

Domesticity had fallen on Karen and Frank, and neither of them could find a single thing to complain about it with. Frank was still The Punisher, but it wasn’t about vengeance anymore. It was about what was right. Most nights, recently, he’d been spending at home with Karen, waiting for the mini-Castle that was waiting to come out of Karen.

A knock at the door around midnight catches their attention from the couch and they both look up at the door. Karen’s settled between Frank’s legs on the couch, her back against his chest. They’re watching a cheesy movie on TV, and neither of them were really paying attention to it. “Do you think if we ignore them, they’ll just go away?” Karen whispered. 

“Hopefully.” 

“I heard that!” A familiar voice belonging to Matt Murdock exclaimed from behind the door. 

“Crap.” Karen said, grasping the top of the couch to pull herself up and off the couch. It took her a moment to get walking and she walked towards the apartment door, unlocking the dead bolt and the two chains Frank had installed. Can never be too safe. “Hi, Matt.” Karen said, stepping back and opening the door. 

Matt stepped into the apartment and pressed a hand on Karen’s shoulder before hugging her. “Sorry to interrupt your night.” 

“Don’t be silly. We’ve done nothing all night but watch movies and eat Chinese food.” Karen said with a light laugh. Matt pulled away from their hug and reached down to run his and over her stomach. “Yeah, Ben’s not ready to come out yet.” Karen said, looking down as Matt’s hand ran along her stomach. “And if you tell me soon, I will kick you. You’ve been saying that for weeks.” 

“I won’t say it then.” Matt said, letting out a soft laugh at Karen. 

“Get you something to drink? There’s probably still some coffee in the pot,” 

“Got anything stronger?” 

Karen nodded and walked over to the freezer to pull out the whiskey they kept up there. As Matt walked by, knowing her and Frank’s place well enough that he could find his way around without his cane. Karen returned to the living room with a glass of whiskey for Matt, the bottle and an empty glass for Frank. 

Frank sat up on the couch and took the bottle and empty glass, figuring this was going to end with Matt and him having some kind of a heart to heart. Frank and Matt were not friends in a traditional sense, more of a ‘we begrudgingly get along because our women are best friends and we’re also both vigilantes and sometimes we need help’ sense of the term friends. 

“I will leave you to two to talk. I’m gonna go pace the hallway, follow doctors orders.” Karen said. She was almost two weeks overdue and she really didn’t want to have her pregnancy induced, but she was ready to have this baby. 

“Stay safe.” Frank said, looking up at Karen. 

Frank’s eyes didn’t leave Karen she was out of sight and he turned back to the whiskey Karen had handed to him, setting the cup down on the table before he filled up the glass. “Ben seems content in there.” Matt said. 

“You didn’t come here to talk about my kid,” Frank said, picking up the glass of whiskey and taking a drink from it. 

“I didn’t. My wedding, really.” 

Frank smacked his lips and nodded. The wedding that was in two weeks, that Matt and Elektra had pushed back several weeks because of the baby not being here yet. “Cold feet?” 

“Yeah.” 

They sat there in silence for several minutes before Frank spoke again, his voice low and quiet. “After Maria…” He stopped for a moment, thinking about her. There still wasn’t a day that went by that Frank didn’t miss Maria, something he was thankful that Karen understood. “I didn’t think I could ever have that again.” Frank said, holding the glass of whiskey in his hand. “That 'crush you if it’s gone’ feeling.” 

“Karen?” When Karen and Frank first started dating, Matt was 100% against it. He tried to talk Karen out of it, but when Karen Page set her sights on something, there was no stopping her. 

Frank took another drink of the whiskey and nodded. “Brings the damn pain.” He thought back to the last time he had this conversation, except it was a very different person he was having it with. He chuckled, shaking his head. “You know I once told Karen to hold onto you? Hold on with both hands and don’t let go.” 

Matt didn’t know that, but he didn’t blame Karen for doing the opposite of what Frank said to do. Not anymore. “She didn’t. She held onto you.” 

Frank scoffed. “Not the damn point, Red.” He snapped, wishing he was having this conversation with Daredevil so he could at least knock him one and he wasn’t an asshole for doing it. “Hold onto that woman, the one who could crush you, who already has. That’s love.” It seems ironic to Frank that he’s giving a watered down version of the same speech he gave who’s now his wife. 

“And I already bought the damn suit, you’re down that aisle if I have to carry you down it myself.”


	29. Walking Dead inspired forest scene

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Walking Dead inspired forest scene prompted by anonymous.

Dark eyes look down into hers as the hand that’s covering her mouth slowly moves from her mouth down over her neck. “That’s what you get for making me wait,” His voice is low and rumbly, and it sends shivers down Karen’s back.

“You’re such an asshole, Frank.” Karen snaps and leans her head up to press her lips into his. Frank’s kiss is rough and desperate, his fingers clasping around her neck to hold her head in place. 

“What took you so long? Been waiting out here for fuckin’ ever,” He says once he pulls his mouth from hers. He’s straddling her stomach as he sits up to pull his shirt over his head. Karen sits up and brings her hand up to his belt, unbuckling it quickly. 

She speaks as she unbuttons his jeans and pulls down his zipper. “When you haven’t been home in a while, your parents think they need to talk to you for an hour.” Karen says, her mouth connecting with Frank’s toned and bruised chest and stomach. 

One of his large hands comes up around the back of her head and laced through her blonde locks, tugging her head back so he could get his mouth on hers again. Karen moans into his mouth, her hands resting on his broad biceps. Frank’s teeth snag on her bottom lip as he pulls away, Karen watching him as he moves down her body, not saying anything. He’s just breathing, heavy and hot. She can feel it even though her t-shirt. 

“They ask about me?” Frank asks, bringing his hands to the hem of her pants. He doesn’t bother with the buttons or the zippers, just forces her pants and underwear off. 

“The mysterious, brooding guy that came home with their daughter? Nah, they don’t care.” She teases, lifting her head to watch Frank. He’s pushing up her shirt just below her bra, his mouth on her stomach. His tongue connects with her skin, his eyes turning up to look up at her. His mouth hovers over her flesh, licking her flesh in slow, deliberate licks until Karen pulls off her shirt. “Frank,” She murmurs, arching her head back as his tongue runs over her chest. “We don’t have that much time,” 

Frank growls, his mouth finding her ear. “If I have to suffer a goddamn week here without getting to have you whenever I want, I’ll take however much time I want,” He informs Karen, his hand reaching down between her legs until he finds her clit and presses the tip of his finger on her clit just enough that it gets a reaction out of her but not enough that she was satisfied. “Even if I have to restrain you and keep you here. Understand?” 

There’s a smirk on Karen’s face and she brings her hands up to the back of his neck, pulling him down so her mouth was on his. “Yes, sir,”


	30. Pregnancy fluff.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluff with Karen being 5-6 months pregnant? asked by anonymous
> 
> warnings; none
> 
> tags; pregnant karen

“What about the name Jeffrey?” Karen asks, peaking her head out from under the baby naming book she’d picked up at the store.

“Jeffrey Castle?” 

“Who said anything about Castle being his last name? What’s wrong with the last name Page?” Frank opens his mouth, but knows any answer will probably anger Karen, so he just goes back to the foot massage he’d been giving Karen. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” Karen grins, lifting the book back up and flipping through it some more. 

Frank looks over at Karen as she’s flipping through the book and his fingers are kneading into her sore feet, a smile forming on his lips. “You know you don’t need a damn baby book, just come up with a name you like. Something important to you.” 

Karen looks up at Frank and opens her mouth to ask if that was how he named Lisa, Frank Jr. was a given, but she shuts her mouth and turns back to the book. “How about… Benjamin?” Karen says, shutting the book and setting it on top of her breasts. 

“Benjamin?” 

Karen picks the book off her chest and sets it down on the floor in front of the couch. “Yeah,” She says softly, looking up at Frank. “Ben was, uh, this reporter I worked with when taking down Fisk… And he died before of something I… We did,” Karen explains as she sits up, pushing herself up by her palms. 

Frank looks at Karen, but he doesn’t press further. If she wants him to know, she’ll tell him more. “So Benjamin?” He asks. Karen smiles and nods, leaning as forward as she can. She grasps the top of the couch to hold herself up, reaching her hand forward to grasp his shirt to pull him towards her to press her lips into his. “Benjamin Page?” 

“Benjamin Page-Castle,” Karen says with a smile as she pulls away and lets herself fall back onto the couch. Frank returns to the foot massage he’s giving. “Oh, middle name!” Karen exclaims and picks the book up again, opening it to the middle of the boys names section. 

“Nope,” Frank says and leans over to grab the book, tossing it behind the couch. Karen pouts and gasps, narrowing her eyes at him. 

“But-” 

“No.”


	31. "You have pretty hands."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kastle + You have pretty hands, prompted by evilbunnyking on tumblr.
> 
> warnings; none
> 
> tags; drunk frank

It isn't abnormal for Karen to be awake this late, if anything it would be abnormal if she wasn't. She's been up for close to twenty four hours, but she doesn't seem to be stopping at all. It seems like she's going to be working for at least a few more hours, which she doesn't mind. It wasn't like she had plans anyway.

Karen yawns and stands to her feet from her bed, walking over to her kitchen to her coffee pot. She pulls out the pot and pours what's left of her coffee into her mug before she moves to make a new pot. A new coffee filter, two new scoops of coffee, more water, and her coffee pot is off. She leans against her counter and sips what's in her mug. 

It's cold by now, but it's still coffee. 

Loud banging at her door causes her to jump and her eyes to flicker to the door. When she doesn't move to answer the door, a slurred voice comes through the door. 

“Hey!” It's a too loud voice she's never heard at that level, most of the time that she's heard this voice it's quiet and low. “Open up!” 

Karen sets her coffee mug down and turns each of her locks before she opens the door, furrowing her brow to look at Frank Castle. He's got a smile on his face, his eyes are red, and he can barely stand straight. Still, he's covered in blood – probably not his own. 

“Jesus, Frank, how drunk are you?” She asks. 

Frank shrugs off his jacket and drops it to the floor  and moves past Karen without waiting for an invitation into her apartment. He's been there a few times, so he knows where to go – even drunk like this. He stumbles a bit, knocking over a lamp off her table. “Shit, damn, sorry.” He says, leaning over to pick it up. 

Karen leans down to pick up his jacket and holds it against her chest. “Leave it, Frank.” Karen snaps as she shuts the door and turns all the locks back into the locked position. While turned away from him, Karen can hear him stumble through her apartment and plop down on her bed. 

“What're you workin' on?” He asks, reaching forward to take the papers off her bed. Karen turns and rushes towards her bed, grabbing the files from him and holding them against her chest. Frank looks up at her, hurt and offended that she'd take the files from him. “What'd you do that for?” 

“Why are you drunk?” She asks, collecting her files and her laptop, setting them on a table far away from Frank. 

He lies flat on his back and watches her as she walks around the small apartment. “Was tryin' get information from this guy. Said he'd give it to me if I could out drink him.” She stops at her coffee maker and fills up her mug and grabs a water bottle from her fridge. 

Karen walks over to her bed and holds out the water bottle, holding the coffee just out of reach. He frowns and pouts but takes the water bottle anyway. “Did you get your information?” She asks, lifting her coffee cup to her lips. She sips from it slowly, watching Frank. 

His eyes widen as he takes in Karen’s question and curses. “Fuck!” Frank snaps and sits up, only to have a hand pressed on his chest. 

“No. You can go get your information when you walk in a straight line.” Frank lifts his hand to grasp her wrist and pull her hand from his chest up towards his face. 

“You know, you have pretty hands.” He murmurs, looking at her hand. Karen frowns and watches Frank inspect her hand, turning her hand over in his hands. His hands are rough but his touch is gentle. 

“I have pretty hands?” 

“Really pretty hands.” Frank says, moving to hold his hand up against hers. His hand is still bigger than hers, but it isn't by much. “You have pretty everything.” 

“You think I'm pretty?” Karen asks, tilting her head at Frank as she looks down at him. He looks up at her and nods, dropping her hand. He opens his mouth to speak but ends up on his back, a snore leaving his lips. 

Karen laughs, knowing that Frank won't remember a thing of this, and moves to pull his shoes off. She undoes his jeans and tugs them down over his legs, leaving Frank in his thermal shirt and his boxers. Karen collects her things from where she'd set them down and settles back on the space next to Frank, getting back to work. 

She's certainly awake enough to get her work done now.


End file.
